Animals, such as primates, rodents, felines and canines, are used extensively in the research of afflictions and ailments, including diseases, physical disabilities and trauma, that affect the human population. The animals necessary to engage in any type of research must be transported from the animal breeder to a research facility, from research facility to research facility, and also within research areas of a particular facility. Handling the animals is a difficult task in that the animals must be treated so that the animals will not be injured during transportation and also so that the animal or human handler will not be injured transferring the animal from a transport cage to a housing cage.
Particular emphasis on handling procedures occurs when the animals being transported are infected with contagious diseases and also have an aggressive behavior. Handling primates during transportation and transfer is generally considered a high-risk procedure because of the infectious diseases they carry and also because of their aggressive behavior. Reducing or completely eliminating physical contact between the primate and the handler has increased in importance because the primates, especially those from the wild, may be infected with contagious and life-threatening diseases, such as herpes B. virus, tuberculosis, ebolla, hepatitis and HIV.